1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laser hand-piece for performing treatment on a part of a patient to be treated by irradiating the treatment part with a laser beam, and more particularly to a hand-piece usable for treatment in a hospital's department or clinic of otolaryngology and a laser treatment apparatus provided with the hand-piece.
2. Description of Related Art
Heretofore, there has been known a laser treatment apparatus using a CO2 laser beam (a carbon dioxide laser beam) with a wavelength in an infrared region in order to treat nasal allergy, etc. In the laser treatment for nose, a hand-piece provided with a pipe (a laser guiding pipe) in which a mirror for reflecting the laser beam is mounted at a tip is used to irradiate the laser beam into a nostril of a patient. This hand-piece has been materialized in some shapes; one type has a straight shape from a grip part to the pipe, and another has a bent end like a sign “<” to which the pipe is attached for the purpose of improving visibility of the inside of the nose.
Meanwhile, the hand-piece of the straight type, if rotated itself, relatively simply allows a change of a laser irradiation direction according to right and left nostrils and positions (angles) of parts to be irradiated. The hand-piece of the bent type, on the other hand, becomes difficult to handle if it is rotated itself. Accordingly, this type has been arranged to change the laser irradiation direction by interchanging the pipes with mirror reflection surfaces for left and right nostrils individually, alternatively, by rotating the pipe by tightening or loosing of a mounting screw provided in the end of the hand-piece.
The interchange of the pipes or the rotation of the pipe of the hand-piece with the bent type, however, needs to be conducted by operator's both hands during treatment, which involves much time and effort. Specifically, the operator usually holds the hand-piece by one hand and, by the other hand, an instrument such as a rhinoscope or an endoscope fiber for expanding the nostril. Thus the interchange of the pipes or the rotation of the pipe needing operator's both hands would be troublesome.